Although Robert Spano has conducted Golijov's Passion before — and has made a recording — he says he still feels "totally intimidated" by the diversity of the score. "It was learning a new musical vocabulary," he said.

Soprano Jessica Rivera, left, Deraldo Ferreira, center, and Renaldo Gonzalez-Fernandez received enthusiastic applause after performing in Osvaldo Golijov's Passion according to St. Mark, with Orquesta La Pasion and conductor Robert Spano at Carnegie Hall, March 10, 2013.

With his St. Mark Passion, composer Osvaldo Golijov turns the traditional Passion (like those of J.S. Bach) on its head and gives it a spin or two. Here, Javier Silva performs in front of the Forest Hills High School Concert Choir, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts Concert Choir and Songs of Solomon at Carnegie Hall.

Conductor Robert Spano led a cast of some 195 musicians, including several choirs. Golijov's updated Passion, from 2000, seamlessly combines elements of western choral music, western orchestral instruments and deep folkloric Latin American rhythms, instruments and dances.

Melanie Burford
/ NPR

Originally published on July 9, 2014 1:34 pm

PERFORMERS

Robert Spano, conductor

Orquesta La Pasion (Mikael Ringquist and Gonzalo Grau, leaders)

Jessica Rivera, soprano

Luciana Souza, vocalist

Reynaldo Gonzalez-Fernandez, Afro-Cuban singer and dnacer

Deraldo Ferreira, capoeirista and berimbau

Members of the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela

Maria Guinand, chorus director

David Rosenmeyer, music supervisor

Chorus members of Forest Hill High School, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts and Songs of Solomon

Telling the story of Jesus' last days is not just a cornerstone of Christianity, but also of classical music. Just think of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, hailed and championed by everyone from Felix Mendelssohn to Leonard Bernstein. A very modern, multicultural version of that narrative, based on the Gospel of St. Mark, has been hailed as nothing short of a revolution — "as if musical history were starting over," wrote The New Yorker's Alex Ross.

La Pasión según San Marcos (The Passion According to St. Mark) written by the Argentine Jewish composer Osvaldo Golijov reinvents Bach's model in dazzling and deeply thought-provoking ways. In creating what he has called a "Latin American Jesus," Golijov interweaves choral singing and an orchestra with Afro-Cuban dance rhythms, Bahian drums and capoeira dancing from Brazil, and African-inspired call-and-response vocals. He also examines the narrative from a Jewish perspective, combining the Christian gospel with the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the traditional Jewish prayer of mourning called Kaddish, as well as achingly beautiful poetry by 19th-century Galician poet Rosalia de Castro.

In a recent interview I conducted with the composer, he said, "What interests me is not so much religion, as it is the questions that religion is a vehicle for — which are the questions that we all arrive at at some point in our lives." (To hear a bit more of this excerpted interview, click the audio link above.)

Commissioned by the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart to commemorate the 250th anniversary of J. S. Bach's death in 2000, Osvaldo Golijov's Passion has become without question one of the most popular and critically successful classical works of the 21st century. This Carnegie Hall performance marks the Passion's fourth full staging in New York alone, in addition to many productions across the U.S. and Latin America to London, Rome, Sydney and beyond.

For this performance, high school students from across New York City have been working on this piece daily through the school year. They will perform as the chorus, bringing their own experiences and vitality to this transformative piece.